Unions blocking health care savings in Wisconsin
The reason: their union-created health insurance company plans cost more than public health insurance plans, so they've blocked attempts to switch and save money.
Hartland - Teachers in the Hartland-Lakeside School District have agreed to switch health insurance providers to save the district $690,000, but the executive committee of a union that represents teachers at Arrowhead High feeder schools is blocking the change, officials say.
Faced with a $1.2 million reduction in state aid for the 2011-'12 school year, the School Board has been looking at ways to reduce costs and avoid program cuts and increases in class sizes, Superintendent Glenn W. Schilling said Tuesday.
The board determined it could achieve some saving by switching teachers' health insurance from WEA Trust, the nonprofit company started 40 years ago by the state's largest teachers union, to another provider when the contract expires June 30.
In the end, the board and teachers - after a series of joint meetings to study the issue - agreed to go with United Healthcare.
Teachers overwhelmingly supported the change, said Schilling and Ginny Henningsen, the former School Board president who has been serving as a liaison in negotiations with teachers since leaving the board in April.
The Arrowhead United Teachers Organization's executive committee rejected the switch on Monday.
This is a perfect example of why we are experiencing endless debt because of liberal policies.
The district faces a $7.2 million budget shortfall this year, said Eric Olson, president of the Kenosha Unified School Board. All other labor groups within the district agreed to switch from WEA Trust to coverage provided by Minneapolis-based UnitedHealthcare, a private health insurance provider. The change generated more than $3 million in savings for the district, Olson said.
If the teachers had also switched to UnitedHealthcare, the district would have saved an additional $3 million, he said.
The coverage provided by UnitedHealthcare features the same benefits and co-pays that the WEA Trust does, said both Olson and Richard K. Wheeler, national vice president public sector for UnitedHealthcare.
Because the teachers did not make the insurance coverage change, the district will need to lay off about 40 teachers to make up for the remainder of the budget shortfall, Olson said.
Kudos to Governor Scott Walker for taking on the unions and their attempts to economically enslave our children. The left will of course try to blame teacher layoffs on "budget cuts".
We fight not only for our own economic freedom but also for that of our children. Who wants their children to spend their entire lives trying to pay off the debt racked up by the left over the past few decades (and especially the past few years)?
Hartland - Teachers in the Hartland-Lakeside School District have agreed to switch health insurance providers to save the district $690,000, but the executive committee of a union that represents teachers at Arrowhead High feeder schools is blocking the change, officials say.
Faced with a $1.2 million reduction in state aid for the 2011-'12 school year, the School Board has been looking at ways to reduce costs and avoid program cuts and increases in class sizes, Superintendent Glenn W. Schilling said Tuesday.
The board determined it could achieve some saving by switching teachers' health insurance from WEA Trust, the nonprofit company started 40 years ago by the state's largest teachers union, to another provider when the contract expires June 30.
In the end, the board and teachers - after a series of joint meetings to study the issue - agreed to go with United Healthcare.
Teachers overwhelmingly supported the change, said Schilling and Ginny Henningsen, the former School Board president who has been serving as a liaison in negotiations with teachers since leaving the board in April.
The Arrowhead United Teachers Organization's executive committee rejected the switch on Monday.
This is a perfect example of why we are experiencing endless debt because of liberal policies.
The district faces a $7.2 million budget shortfall this year, said Eric Olson, president of the Kenosha Unified School Board. All other labor groups within the district agreed to switch from WEA Trust to coverage provided by Minneapolis-based UnitedHealthcare, a private health insurance provider. The change generated more than $3 million in savings for the district, Olson said.
If the teachers had also switched to UnitedHealthcare, the district would have saved an additional $3 million, he said.
The coverage provided by UnitedHealthcare features the same benefits and co-pays that the WEA Trust does, said both Olson and Richard K. Wheeler, national vice president public sector for UnitedHealthcare.
Because the teachers did not make the insurance coverage change, the district will need to lay off about 40 teachers to make up for the remainder of the budget shortfall, Olson said.
Kudos to Governor Scott Walker for taking on the unions and their attempts to economically enslave our children. The left will of course try to blame teacher layoffs on "budget cuts".
We fight not only for our own economic freedom but also for that of our children. Who wants their children to spend their entire lives trying to pay off the debt racked up by the left over the past few decades (and especially the past few years)?